Copyholder



Jum 11, 1946. K. AmcKs COPY HOLDER Filed June 24, 1944 Patented June 11, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COPYHOLDER Kelsey C. Atticks, Newton, Mass. Application June 24, 1944, Serial No. 541,859

1 Claim.

My invention relates to improvements in copyholders used by typists, stenographers, office machine operators and others who, working at a desk, table or bench, use copy of any kind that should be placed so that it can be seen to best advantage by the worker; and the objects of my improvement are; first, to provide a rounded top over which a stenographers note book, a students typewriting book, or other types of copy may be placed t advantage; second, to provide a copyholder that may be folded together easily so that it will occupy little space when placed in a drawer or other compartment and that may be set up again quickly to give a desired position for copy placed upon it; and third, to give stability without rigidity or the necessity of manipulating gadgets.

I attain these objects by mechanism shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a right-side view of the copyholder and Fig. 2 is a front view. In the drawing, l indicates the face board against which copy is placed; 2, back support; 3, shelf on which sheets of paper, cards or other forms of copy may be set; 4 and 4, feet on which the copyholder stands on a desk, table or bench; and 5, hinges connecting face board and back support.

In the model shown in the drawing, the face board, back support, and shelf, are made of wood; the feet 4 and 4' of flexible rubber and the hinges of metal. The shelf and hinges are attached by screws not shown in the drawing. The groove shown on the under side of the face board, is to accommodate the foot of the back support when the copyholder is folded together.

When the face board and back support are made of metal, plastic or a manufactured board, it may be constructed so that the face board and back support represent the two leaves of a large hinge, the knuckle of the hinge providing the rounded top over which copy may be placed.

The feet in the drawing, may be made of flexible rubber or of any other flexible material if the bottom surface resting on the desk, table or bench, when the copyholder is in position for use, is of a material or design that has a tendency to cling to the surface on which it is placed. Such material and surfaces have been commonly used under rugs to prevent slipping, for bath mats, for automobile tires and for door-holders. The feet shown in this drawing are made to fit over the bottoms of the face board and the back support much as an old style eraser has been made to fit over the end of a pencil.

It will be noted in Figure 1 that the foot 4 extends inside the plane in which the under side of the face board lies; and that the foot 4' is of similar design. This feature is an application of the principle used in the hinged door-holder. Combined with a non-skid tread on the bottom surfaces of the feet it will counteract the natural tendency of the face board and the back support to slide apart at the bottom because of vibration when the copyholder is in use.

I am aware that prior to my invention copyholders have been made with a face board as herein depicted, and with various types of back supports. I therefore make no claims broadly to these features; but I claim:

In a device of the class described, a face board with a groove across the back, and a back support shorter than the face board, the two hinged together at the top and equipped with feet of a flexible, non-skid material attached to the bottoms, said feet so shaped that they extend the entire length of the bottom of the face board and of the back support; that they have a wide plane surface in contact with the surface on which the copyholder is set up for use; that they have sufficient depth of flexible material to cause them to buckle under and give additional traction when lateral pressure is exerted against the top of the face board or of the back support; and that they have sufficient extension of flexible material, inside and outside the planes in which the sides of the face board and the back support lie, to cause enough non-skid surface of said feet to remain in contact with the surface on which the copyholder is set up to give stability when the face board and the back support are set farther apart or closer together at the bottom than when set in the particular position which normally will place the bottom surfaces of the feet in the same plane.

KELSEY C. ATTICKS. 

